I think the title sums up what I think about this restaurant. Have you ever gotten a present and the person who is giving it to you is incredibly excited thinking they just got you the PERFECT gift which you've also wanted? Going to the Present is pretty much the same exact experience except instead of receiving a free gift you're paying for your own gift which you can't return.
The Present has been open for about 6 months and I've actually been there 3 times. Each time they've made major revisions to the menu because their business has not taken off yet. Unfortunately they still have not gotten together something that works.
First off who wrote this latest menu? It's pretty absurd. Some of the dish names are "Cow in the Open Field" and "Gift from the Sea on a Haystack". The names were so outrageous that I ordered by number and by my broken Vietnamese.
So I order a tuna steak with green papaya. The description sounded good and I was a bit surprised by the portion size. For $12.95 I got a tuna steak that would have easily cost $6-8 at the supermarket. The plating was actually pretty nice. The entree though was not as good as the plating. The tuna steak was deep fried with no seasoning whatsoever. It was very very bland. The tuna is suppose to be eaten with the fish sauce poured over it but that didn't help very much either since the fish sauce was also bland.
My dad got the rice vermicelli with beef and spring rolls. The beef was overcooked and the wrong cut of meat was used. Traditionally the cut of beef used is a slightly fatty sirloin. A fatty sirloin needs to be used or at least a slightly fatty cut of beef needs to be used because the meet is sliced thinly and grilled. The Present used a top round cut which is extremely lean. Grilling a thinly sliced lean meat is never a good idea as it'll easily be overcooked and dry out becoming tough and chewy. Also, a top round cut is never a good choice for grilling. It's better off in a pot roast, stew, or roast.
The restaurant decor is very nice and the staff is hospitable and attentive. When asked how the food was my dad gave his honest opinion and they made every effort to correct the situation and gave us free dessert. The dessert was fried banana in a coconut syrup. This dessert has been done time and time again. It wasn't bad but it's also not very hard to get right.
Lunch for two ended up only costing $34 with tax and tip. That's a very fair price seeing as I ordered a tuna steak. There were other items on the menu that I really wanted to try, specifically a flaming beef dish cooked on bamboo but it wasn't available at the time.
Overall if The Present can get their seasoning and cooking right this will be a great restaurant as the service and ambiance is excellent and the pricing is very fair.
Rundown:
Price: Moderate
Service: Great
Food: Below Average
Restaurant Decor/Setting: Very Good
6678 Arlington Blvd
Falls Church, VA 22042
(703) 531-1881
Falls Church, VA 22042
(703) 531-1881
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